The Gundam Experience
by Dragonwing5
Summary: Second in the Crossover Series. What happens when you find out that the past, the present, and the future are more closely linked than you ever thought? Perhaps it takes two of those worlds meeting to make you realize...
1. Attack of the Yoda Clock!

Author's Note: Well, here it is! The first chapter of the second story in the newly formed Crossover series! Whew! That was a mouthful! Well, I do hope that you all will enjoy and let me know what you think! Oh, and sorry this first chapter is a little short, but I needed to flex my light writing muscles a bit before diving into the big chapters!

Thanks Everyone!

Dragonwing

One

Nicole Huneycutt was awoken one warm spring morning by the sound of Yoda's voice saying: "**Ah, the force is strong with this one! Get up and use your talents, young Jedi!**"

"I hate that alarm clock," Nicole grumbled, dragging a pillow over her dark blonde head and praying that her roommate, Rina, would hit the snooze button quickly. Unfortunately for Nicole however, Rina was in a deep sleep, having only just gone to bed a few hours before, and didn't even hear the clock. Yoda's voice resounded through the room: "**Get up, lazy one! The force waits for no one!**" Nicole groaned and pulled the pillow tighter around her head, praying that either Rina would turn the clock off, or that it would somehow miraculously self-combust. Yoda's voice came again: "**GET UP, SAID I!**"

"That's it!" The blonde threw the pillow across the room, narrowly missing the Yoda clock. She tried to throw off her blankets, but was so tangled in them that she ended up crashing to the floor. Growling in frustration, Nicole finally escaped the blankets and stalked over to the clock. Seeing on the digital screen that it was about to go off again, Nicole grabbed the clock and thrust it right next to the still sleeping Rina's ear. This time, Yoda screeched in fury and the sounds of clashing light sabers came roaring from the clock's speakers. Rina yelped and jumped up onto her feet, only to get tangled in her own blankets and came tumbling back down onto the bed.

"Jiminy freaking_ Cricket_ on a piece of _toast_!" Rina shouted, she'd been trying not to swear too much now that she had a new little niece that she saw often, and had been inventing her own words to vent frustration with. "What was that for?" She brushed back a handful of dark brown hair and glowered at Nicole while groping on the nightstand for her glasses. Nicole couldn't help it, she burst out laughing and barely caught the Yoda clock as Rina knocked it off the bed in her attempt to find her glasses.

"You're the one who wanted this alarm clock so badly," Nicole switched the light saber noises off and put the clock back in its place. "And you don't even wake up when it goes off! Do you stuff cotton in your ears before you go to sleep?"

Rina pushed her glasses onto her button nose, "I didn't even go to sleep until 4:00a.m. Give me a break!" Her cheeks were rosy from all of the excitement, and Nicole had a strong urge to pinch them but instead the blonde simply ruffled Rina's already wild hair and went in search of the pillow she'd thrown.

"I guess we need to get up anyway," Nicole located the pillow and started to make her bed up, "We're meeting Angel again today, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Rina groaned and flopped back onto her bed. "How much longer is this house hunting of hers going to take?"

"I don't know," Nicole sighed, "But we promised to help, and hopefully today will be the day she finds an apartment or _something_ that she likes. The lease on her old place is going to end soon."

"We offered to move our work out of the second bedroom and let her stay here," The brunette finally climbed out of bed and started searching for her hair brush. "Are we that scary that she didn't want to move in with us?" Rina grinned evilly, then grimaced when she tried to drag the brush through her short, but very tangled hair.

"Angel's just really looking forward to living on her own," Nicole pulled a pair of jeans and a tank top out of her dresser, "I mean, she lived with her parents for most of college, and then with her sister up until now. She's going to be 26 this year, a year older than you and me, and she's going to go crazy if she doesn't get her own place."

"Yeah, I see what you mean." Rina's muffled voice came from beneath the blue NASA T-shirt she was attempting to pull over her head, "But with the way rent is these days," her head finally popped out, brown hair sticking up in all directions again, "I much prefer having a roommate, at least we split all the bills and don't have to pay as much."

Nicole slapped her hand against her heart and sighed, "Aw, how sweet! And here all this time I thought you were rooming with me because you loved me!" She ducked just as a shoe came soaring by her head, "Now, now Rina! Such violence is unbecoming of a young lady." Nicole grinned, brown eyes shining and then dodged out of the room as another shoe came sailing after her, "Hurry up! We have to meet Angel soon!"

A blonde, thin, birdlike girl was waiting for them when they pulled up in Rina's car to a nearby coffee shop. The girl was so excited she was practically bouncing, her chin-length, choppy hair swinging in and out of her green eyes. Nicole got out of the car and grinned as Angel rushed over and leapt into her arms.

"Nicole!" Angel gripped the other girl's neck tighter as Nicole swung her around, "I've missed you!"

Nicole released the girl she'd been best friends with since eighth grade, "You were only gone a week you silly girl!" She laughed at Angel's pout, "But I missed you too."

Angel gave Rina a similarly enthusiastic hug and they all went into the coffee house for a quick drink.

"I've got something so exciting to tell you!" Angel bubbled when they all sat down, "I think I've found an apartment that's going to be perfect for me!"

"Really?" Rina sipped her iced coffee, "Where is it? Do you want to go look at it today?"

"Well, actually…" Angel fiddled with a napkin, "It's outside the city limits a little bit, but it's not too far! Only a ten to fifteen minute ride by the subway."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Nicole smiled warmly at her, "It's whatever makes you happy, that you can afford that is."

"Yes!" Angel clapped excitedly, "I can't wait for you both to see it!"


	2. The Subway

Author's Note: Ok guys! Here's chapter two! Sorry it took so long, and now things are starting to move along so the Gundam characters will be introduced shortly! As always, healthy feedback is appreciated! Happy reading!

Dragonwing

Two

"Tell me again how we got talked into going to this place for the weekend?" Rina asked, zipping her laptop up in its travel case. "I'm supposed to be finishing up that research work for my internship at the space center."

"You'll be able to work outside of the city," Nicole laughed and looked around to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. "Besides, how was I supposed to know that when we agreed to see this place it meant spending the night? Plus, I've got a whole inventory review due at the museum on Monday and you don't see me complaining." She grinned when Rina stuck her tongue out at her.

"Yeah, yeah." The brunette forced her duffle bag shut and hauled it over her shoulder, then she grabbed her laptop. "Alright, let's get it over with."

Nicole shook her head and picked up her own bags, she hoped this weekend away would give them all a chance to relax, whether they brought work with them or not.

They arrived at Angel's parent's house a short time later. Angel's mother, a plump and sometimes overly cheery woman, answered the door.

"Hey, Miriam!" Nicole managed to squeak out as the woman grabbed her into a crushing hug.

"It's so exciting, the three of you going to see Angel's new place!" Miriam gushed, "Angel has been looking forward to this for ages!"

"She just told us about this a few days ago." Rina whispered to Nicole as they went into the house.

"True," Nicole whispered back and bent to pick up Samson, Miriam's little white dog. "But Miriam likes to think that any little event can be turned into a big one just by being really excited about it."

"Ah, ok." Rina shook her head but didn't say anymore.

Angle came bounding down the stairs, dragging a rather large overnight bag behind her. "I hope I've got everything," The petite blonde was saying.

"It looks like you've packed half of your wardrobe for a three day trip." Nicole laughed and let Samson go.

"You can never be too prepared!" Angel wheezed and dropped the bag, it landed with a resounding **thud**. "Mom, are the directions to the apartment still on the kitchen table?"

"Oh, yes, here they are." Miriam grabbed an envelope off of the table and handed it to Nicole, "I know you'll be more responsible with this, Nicole." She ignored Angel's '_humph_' and turned to Rina, "I love my Angel dearly, but she's not the most organized person in the world."

"Mom!" Angel's squeaked, but then decided to let it go. "Ok, you guys, let's go!"

Fifteen minutes later, they were still in Angel's driveway. Rina's car had picked the precise moment that they were ready to leave to die. They tried everything they could think of, Nicole even tried using jumper cables attached to Miriam's car, but nothing worked.

"Well this is just great!" Angel fumed, "How are we going to get there now?"

"I'm more worried about my car than where we're going!" Rina wailed, "I've had this car since high school! It's lasted me this long, what could be wrong with it?"

"Well the fact that you've had it since high school might have something to do with it." Nicole mused, earning herself a death glare from Rina. "Anyway, I guess our only options are either to take a taxi or the subway."

"The subway!" Angel gulped, "No way! We take a taxi."

"We can't _afford_ to take a taxi that far!" Rina snapped. "Either we take the subway or you just give up on seeing the apartment."

Angel wrestled with her obvious dislike of public transportation and the need to get out of her parents' house. However, all it took was Miriam suggesting that she drive them out there and "make a regular gals' weekend out of it", to make up Angel's mind. She relented on taking the subway, and Miriam said she'd have someone come out and look at Rina's car while they were gone.

So, a half an hour later, they found themselves waiting on the subway platform, which was strangely deserted for a Friday afternoon. Their only companion on the platform was a rather shady looking character impatiently pacing back and forth along the side of the tracks. He was dressed all in black and the hood of his heavy coat was pulled so far over his head that only his mouth and chin were visible. Angel shifted uneasily and scooted closer to Nicole whenever he would pace near them. Rina kept her nose buried in the astronomy book she was reading, choosing to ignore the hooded pacer.

Nicole sighed when the subway train finally pulled in, a few people exited as they lugged their bags into the car and sat down. The strange man went to the opposite end of the car and sat against the wall. He kept drumming his fingers on the chair railings and reaching into his pockets from time to time. Almost as if he needed assurance that whatever was in his pockets was still securely there. The car pulled out and the girls settled themselves for a long ride. Rina and Angel would doze every once in a while, but Nicole stayed fully awake, mostly to keep an eye of the fidgety stranger. Other than the occasional burst of movement from the hooded one, or some attempt at conversation by Rina and Angel, there wasn't much activity on the car. But for every stop that the girls did not get off, it seemed he became more and more agitated with their presence. All three women noticed this and were very grateful when their stop finally came. Grabbing their bags, they crossed quickly out of the car, and if Nicole wasn't hallucinating, it seemed the stranger almost heaved a sigh of relief to see them go.

"Ok, ladies," Nicole sighed, "Let's get moving"

"Wait!" Angel suddenly cried, "I left my purse underneath my seat!" She took off back into the subway car as the doors started to close.

"Angel, stop!" Nicole and Rina, not wanting to get separated in an unfamiliar area, ran back in after her.

Angel grabbed her purse just as the doors closed and the car took off again roughly.

"Oh great!" Rina growled, "Now we have to ride to the next stop and figure out how to get back."

Suddenly they heard a cry from the front of the car, "NO!" The hooded man stood bracing himself against the car seat, "You aren't supposed to be on here!"

"Take it easy," Nicole said slowly, "We'll get off at the next stop and leave you alone."

"No, you don't understand!" He took a shaky step towards them when the car lurched violently, throwing them all to the floor, "It's too late now." His voice filled their ears, "The process has already begun. You will not be able to get back now…." The voice faded and was replaced by a great roaring sound, accompanied by the girls' screams. They all instinctively reached out for each others' hands and grasped tightly before everything was plunged into darkness.


	3. Headaches, Questions, and Wars

Author's Note: And so we now have Chapter 3! Definitely longer, and hopefully more enjoyable than the first two! Healthy feedback is much appreciated!

Thanks everyone!

Dragonwing

Three

-- Duo Maxwell stood and stretched languidly; he'd been in the same chair for nearly 3 hours and felt a well deserved break coming on. Turning to Heero, Duo grinned at the equally weary expression on his long time friend's face, "Don't look so down! Our shift will be over soon enough."

Heero lifted one dark eyebrow at the energetic pilot and sighed, "That's true. But I'll be glad when this sweep is finished entirely. I think we all need a good rest." He inclined his head even though the other three ex-Gundam pilots also on the ship weren't in the room. "I'm getting too old for this." Heero stretched himself and settled back into his chair.

"Aw, don't talk like that!" Duo laughed, blue eyes dancing. "We're not that old! I know that I've _just_ recently turned twenty-two, and you're the same age as me, so if you're old then that makes _me_ old, and I know _I'm_ not old, so something doesn't add up there." He laughed again and dodged the balled up piece of paper that came sailing towards his head. "Lighten up, Heero! I'll go see if Trowa and Quatre are about ready to take their shift." The still laughing pilot bounded out of the room before Heero could throw anything heavier at him.

"Alright," Heero sighed at the computer screen in front of him. "I'm not _that_ old, so why does it feel like it?" Deep down he knew why, war. War had made him far older than he should be. Even now that everything was mostly under control, he still felt uneasy. He couldn't just relax into life as easily as someone like Duo could, it just wasn't possible. Sighing again, Heero returned to the task at hand, pushing Duo's comments about age and "lightening up" out of his mind.

-- "Where can they be?" Duo grumbled for the fourth or fifth time as he trudged through the ship. "This ship isn't even that large, they can't have disappeared." He'd looked all over the upper levels for Quatre and Trowa with no luck, now he'd made his way down to the lower levels near the engines. "When I finally find them, I'm going to--" But he was never able to finish his sentence, suddenly the ship gave a violent lurch and shuddered as if under stress. Duo braced himself for another tremor, expecting the alarm to sound that they were under attack, but nothing happened. He waited for several minutes before carefully making his way forward again. Duo rounded a bend in the corridor and was met with a surprising scene.

Three young women lay unconscious on the hallway floor. The one closest to him looked to be very skinny with short blonde hair. The next one had longer, dirty blonde hair and looked to be somewhat muscular, though nowhere nearly as slender as the first woman. The third was a brunette, and though she was shorter and somewhat thicker around the middle than the other two, she was in no way less attractive. Duo checked each of their pulses, confirming that they were alive and breathing. He then noticed that they were dressed rather oddly, their clothes weren't too different looking, but had an almost _old_ look to them. Nearby were a few small bags and bundles and three larger bags. Duo tapped the ear piece attached to the shell of his ear and spoke into microscopic microphone, "This is Duo calling anyone on frequency. Something's happened on one of the lower levels. Heero, if you can hear me, I think you're really going to want to check this one out."

-- Nicole vaguely felt her senses returning, the fuzzy gray edges tinting her vision hinted that she would have a massive headache later on though. She groaned and pressed her face onto the ground, then jumped when her cheek touched cold metal. Turning onto her back, Nicole creaked one eye open and immediately clapped her hands over her face. Bright, harsh lights were shining above her and the headache that was hinted moments before hit her with full force.

"Ow." Nicole rasped, her throat dry as if it hadn't been used in days. "That hurts."

"Hey, hey!" A voice reached through the fog in her brain and got her attention, "This one's awake you guys!" The voice yelled again, now much clearer and _much_ too loud for Nicole's present condition.

She risked opening one eye again, the light blinded her for a second and spots blurred her vision before a shape began to take form above her. Bright blue eyes sparkled down at her, the young man grinned as a long, brown braid flopped over his shoulder and dangled in front of Nicole's face.

"Good morning!" His overly cheerful greeting was like fingernails on a chalkboard to Nicole's ears. "So, are you ok?"

"And more importantly," another voice came from somewhere outside of Nicole's line of vision, "_Who_ are you, and why are you on our ship?"

"What?" Nicole tried to sit up and failed. Her head knocked against the metal floor and she cried out at the fresh wave of pain in her skull.

"Hey, careful!" The young man with the braid knelt down beside her and lifted her into a sitting position. "You'll give yourself a concussion doing that."

"I'll ask again, who are you and how did you get on our ship? This is a private vessel." The second speaker moved in front of her, he had darker blue eyes and short brown hair. He gave Nicole the impression of an army officer who'd had a bad day. She squinted up at him for a moment before looking around. They were in the middle of an endless looking hallway, metal and chrome covered every surface that she could see. Lying nearby were their bags and the still unconscious Rina and Angel. Nicole desperately wanted to go check on them, but she knew that if she moved she'd fall over and hurt herself again.

Finally looking back up at the young man who had been questioning her, Nicole sighed. "Your guess is as good as mine at this point."

The one holding her up chuckled, "I think she _did_ give herself a concussion, Heero. Maybe we should let them rest before questioning them?"

Heero didn't say anything at first, he looked hard at Nicole and was about to speak, when another voice called out from behind her. "What's going on here? Is someone hurt?" A blonde young man came around from behind them and stood next to Heero, his eyes widened as he took in the two unconscious women on the floor and the barely conscious one being held up by Heero's companion. Then, however, he schooled his features into a smooth mask and his tone became all business, "How did they get on board?"

"That's what we're trying to find out." Heero said steadily, "Duo here seems to think that we should let them recuperate before questioning them."

"Seems reasonable," the blonde softened slightly and introduced himself, "I'm Quatre. Have these two even asked you your name yet?"

"No," Nicole cleared her throat, which was working a little better at least. "I'm Nicole, and I seriously don't know how we got here, or where _here_ is for that matter."

Suddenly, Rina began to stir and groan much in the same way Nicole had, and Nicole knew her friend would have just as bad of a headache as she did. The brunette turned and blinked at Nicole, her glasses slightly skewed off of her nose.

"What happened?" Rina croaked and fixed her glasses so that she could see properly, "Where are we?" She attempted to sit up and fell right back over, only to be caught by a fourth young man that Nicole hadn't even noticed. This one had long, brown bangs that brushed into his green eyes and across his face. He steadied Rina, who flushed slightly and looked to Nicole for help, but all Nicole could do was shrug.

"I have no clue as to what's going on." Nicole said for what she was sure was the hundredth time, "I just woke up here. Don't ask me anything else right now, my head hurts too much to think about it."

"Well you didn't just appear here," Heero's gaze narrowed, "What's the last thing you remember? What ship were you on?"

"Why do you keep talking about ships?" Nicole ran a hand through her hair, "I haven't been on a ship in years."

"I find that hard to believe." Quatre looked puzzled, "How else could you have gotten out here?"

"What—" Rina started, but was cut off by the sound of Angel waking up.

"Oh, my head!" Angel moaned and unsteadily pushed herself onto her hands and knees, "What happened?" She finally looked up and saw where she was. Her features shifted from pain, to confusion, to shock, and to panic as she looked at the ring of young men standing around them. Then she spotted Rina and Nicole, and promptly launched herself into Nicole's lap. "Nicole! Where are we?! Who are these people?!" The force of her friend landing on top of her sent Nicole flying back, taking Duo with them.

"Angel!" Nicole's muffled voice came from where her face was lodged underneath the smaller blonde's collar bone, "It's ok, honey! We're safe, and you're making it very difficult for me to breathe!"

"I'm not having much luck either," Duo mumbled from underneath Nicole, "Would you mind getting off now?"

Nicole managed to sit up off of the pilot with Angel still clinging to her like a leech. She then grabbed Angel's hips and forced the girl to turn so that she could sit up without putting so much strain on her own back. Nicole blew out a puff of air to get her hair out of her face and then looked back up at the pilots. "Now, what were we talking about?" She was met with silence while Duo picked himself up off of the floor.

"Um, Nicole?" Rina had been looking at their surroundings more closely while the three on the floor had untangled themselves, realization was finally dawning on the intelligent brunette and she began to speak rapidly with excitement. "I think we really are on a _ship_! A _space ship_!" Nicole looked at Rina like she'd just told them they were about to have dinner with the Cat in the Hat, even Angel poked her head up off of Nicole's shoulder long enough to "humph" at their friend before retreating back to her spot.

"Well of course we're on a space ship," Quatre looked at them quizzically, tilting his head to one side. "What other kind of ship would we be talking about?"

Nicole looked at Rina and her eyes grew large, then she looked at the young men standing around them and took a closer look at the hallway they were in. "You—you can't be serious?" she licked her lips and jerked her head back around to Rina. "How on _earth_ is that possible?"

"You're kidding right?" Duo started to laugh but was cut off by a look from Heero.

"Yes," Quatre looked even more puzzled than before, "Were the three of you locked in a safety bunker or something during the war and just got out recently? That's the only reason I can think of for your confusion unless you've given yourselves amnesia somehow."

Nicole and Rina looked at each other in bewilderment, then Angel popped her head up out of Nicole's collar bone and piped up, "What war?"

"She speaks!" Nicole laughed and squeezed the blonde reassuringly, "You were starting to worry me there for a second." She looked up and saw the look of pure fury on Heero's face, "What are you looking at?" Nicole demanded.

" 'What war'? " Heero demanded, the other pilots looked very solemn and remained quiet. " '_What war_'?! How can you possibly ask that?! What war! The one that finally ended not that many years ago! The one that nearly destroyed everything! The one that all of us nearly lost our lives fighting for!"

"I still don't know what you're talking about." Nicole said calmly, looking him right in the eye. "There have been many wars over the course of history. The Peloponnesian War, the Trojan War which may or may not really have happened, the War of 1812, the American Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Vietnam War, and the most recent one _I _can recall, the War on Terror in Iraq, to name a _few_. Now you can pick from any of those and several others that happened long before and in between them. But if you're hinting at some other war that I haven't named, then I don't know what you're talking about."

All of the pilots were looking at her in shock and Duo's mouth was hanging open as he searched for something to say. Angel smirked at them and Rina had a small smile on her face, both women knew exactly how Nicole could be if someone tried to challenge her knowledge of history, and they loved seeing these intrusive strangers dumbfounded by her.

"Now, are you going to stand there staring at us or are you going to let us get up off of this floor and recover a bit before you interrogate us further? I don't know about them," Nicole indicated Rina and Angel, "But my head feels like someone's been pounding it with a rock and I could really use some aspirin right about now."

Everyone remained silent for a moment, it seemed some of the men were struggling inwardly about what to do, while the others simply looked amused at the Nicole's little speech.

Finally Duo spoke up, "What's an aspirin?"


	4. Lie Detectors

Author's Note: An unexpected burst of inspiration hit me this afternoon! And because of that, we have chapter 4 much quicker than I was anticipating! Don't you just love those moments? Haha! As always, please review my dears!

Dragonwing

Four

--Chang Wufei had finally gotten some time away to himself that day. Away from the other pilots, away from the other few crew members aboard the ship, and away from the distracting thoughts about life that crept into his mind when he was around them. He'd settled in his quarters and had been meditating for a few hours when the annoying earpiece he'd tossed onto his bed began buzzing at him. Wufei opened one eye slowly, wishing he could destroy the contraption with sheer will power, but sadly he'd never attained such a high level of inner control. He liked to entertain the theory that it was because any time he'd really come close to rising another level in his meditation, Duo or one of the other pilots would barge in and the whole process would fall apart. Smirking slightly at this, he eased his legs out of the cross position they'd been in and grabbed the communicator.

"What?" He said coolly into the microphone.

"Wufei?" Quatre's voice pierced into his ear, "You might want to come to the control deck ASAP!"

"Why is that?" Wufei sighed. '_What nonsense have they come up with now?_' he wondered.

"We've found some stowaways on board!" The voice pierced again, and Wufei couldn't tell if the blonde pilot was excited or angry.

"Alright, I'll be up in just a minute." He took off the ear piece and slipped it into his pocket before Quatre could say anything else.

'_Stowaways?_' The Chinese pilot mused as he made his way up to the control deck. '_Who could have possibly managed to get onto the ship undetected? What do they want?_' His expression hardened as he neared his destination. Wufei went through the door expecting to find any number of hard-edged, sneering enemies securely tied up in the room, what he found, however, stopped him in his tracks.

Three young women sat around a round mapping table, all of them looking rather sick. In truth, the moment the other pilots had tried to help Rina, Nicole, and Angel get up, they'd all become so overpowered with shaking and fever that they'd had to physically carry them up to the control deck. Their bags were stacked nearby against the wall, except for Angel's purse, which she'd latched onto and refused to release.

Wufei's pause was only long enough for those with keen senses to detect, then he continued striding forward towards the group. Quatre had mixed some noxious smelling concoction and was putting mugs of it in front of the women. One of them, a startlingly skinny blonde, took one whiff of the brew and turned a vivid shade of green.

"No way, I'm not drinking that." The blonde whined weakly.

"It will help bring down your fever and make you less nauseous." Quatre said calmly, as if he were talking to a small child. "We've got to get you better so we can figure out how you got here."

"Just try it," The woman across from her, a larger brunette, said tiredly as she took a gulp out of her mug. "It doesn't have much of a taste, you'll be fine."

"No!" The skinny one crossed her arms and pursed her lips stubbornly. Wufei found this very childish and knew that if he were the brunette, the other girl would _not_ have spoken to him like that.

"Angel." The third woman lifted her head from where she'd rested it on the table. Wufei noticed that her build was in between the other two's, making her look almost out of place sitting between them. "Drink it." The darker blonde said sternly, "Now."

The smaller blonde, Angel, scowled at the other blonde for a moment, but neither dropped her gaze. Some kind of silent communication must have passed between them, because after a few minutes Angel dropped her gaze and muttered, "Fine." She gripped the mug and downed most of it in one gulp. Her face screwed up for a second before she realized that it didn't taste nearly as bad as it smelled, then it relaxed in surprise. The darker blonde smirked at her.

"Oh alright!" Angel snapped, "But if this turns out to be poison, I blame you, Nicole!"

"Oh shut up and finish it." Nicole drained her mug and put her head back down on the table.

Angel "humphed" at her, and then noticed Wufei standing there. "Who's he?" She asked, tilting her head. Rina pushed her glasses farther up her nose and looked at him with equal curiosity. Nicole raised her head back up and Wufei found himself briefly looking into tired brown eyes before he addressed Heero.

"Where did you find them?" He asked Heero.

The other pilot crossed his arms, "Duo found them passed out in one of the lower levels. They claim that they don't know how they got on board, nor do they seem to know anything about space ships or ever being on one."

"That's because we've _never been on one_, we told you that." Nicole said tiredly, like a tour guide who'd given the same tour all day and just wanted to go home.

"That's practically impossible," Wufei said coolly. "Which colony are you three from?"

"Colony?" The brunette asked, sitting up more and looking at the room around them. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about. And anyway…." She licked her lips excitedly, "Are we _really_ on a space ship? You're not just messing around with us?"

"Of course we're on a ship!" Duo laughed, "We _told_ you that, remember?"

"Rina," Nicole said slowly, "What are you getting at?"

Rina stood up slowly and looked around, she almost seemed to be in a trance. "I just want to see…"

"Here we go," Nicole sighed and turned to Quatre, "Can she see everything? She's a bit obsessed with space travel…" She trailed off as Rina began to wander to the front of the control deck. Heero moved to stop her, but Quatre put a hand on his arm and calmly followed the brunette.

Rina stopped in awe of all of the computer screens and controls. Her hands flexed as if she longed to touch everything but they stayed by her sides. When Quatre reached her, she practically had tears in her eyes.

Suddenly, she turned to the blonde pilot, "Can you see out there? Can you actually _see_ the stars and planets as you go by?"

"Of course." Quatre pressed a few buttons on the control panel and the metal directly in front of them began to draw away. When it was finished, there was a huge window, nearly 15 feet tall and just as wide in front of them. Rina's movements were jerky as she stepped up to the glass and tentatively place her hand on the cool surface. Both Angel and Nicole had stood when the metal started pulling back, and now had walked up closer to Rina but stayed behind her. All three women's eyes were large and their breathing shallow as they looked at the expanse of stars, comets, and other space phenomenon that only Rina could recognize. In that moment, all five Gundam pilots realized that these women _were_ really seeing this for the first time.

Duo turned to Heero in silent confusion, in fact, all of the pilots were looking at each other at a loss for what to say or do. Finally, Rina's voice directed them back to the three mysterious young women.

"It's beautiful." The brunette turned back around, addressing Nicole and Angel, tears were rolling down her cheeks but she was laughing at the same time. "I never thought I'd get to see…It's perfect! It's worth not knowing how we got here or why if I can say I've seen it with my own eyes!"

Angel and Nicole both smiled at their friend, but Angel's faded almost immediately when Rina turned back to the window and she grabbed onto Nicole's arm.

"But I want to know how we got here," the smaller girl whispered, "And how we're supposed to get home."

Nicole put an arm around her friend and looked back at the pilots. "So," she said, sounding too old for her years. "What do we do now?"

Heero cleared his throat, "You can start off by telling us who you are and where you're from. Maybe then we can figure out how you managed to get here."

"Alright," Nicole stood straight and looked him in the eye. "My name is Nicole Huneycutt. I'm from the planet Earth, the United States of America, and the State of North Carolina."

Duo choked on the breath he'd started to take in, after he'd finished coughing he turned on Nicole. "What did you say?"

"You heard me." The blonde said. "In fact we're all from North Carolina."

"That's. Impossible." The braided pilot ground out through his teeth. "_I'm_ American and even I know the states were abolished right after the start of the war!"

"Damn it, _what war_!?" Nicole snapped. Everyone turned and stared at her. "We don't know what war you are talking about!"

"Where in hell have you been the past eight years then?" Quatre asked.

"I think," Trowa spoke for the first time since Wufei had gotten there. "There is a way to settle whether they are telling the truth or not."

--"Ok, give me your name, your age, your date of birth, and the place you were born." Heero said.

"What?" Nicole turned wearily from where Trowa had just finished hooking her up to a lie detector and eyed the pilot.

"Your name, age, date of birth, and place of birth." He repeated slowly, looking at them from behind his computer.

"Nicole Huneycutt," she sighed heavily, "Age twenty-four. Born on October 20, 1988 in North Carolina, USA."

The silence that followed was deafening, all five pilots looked at her with varying expressions ranging from surprised, to amused, to angry.

"That's impossible," Heero said softly, "1988 A.D.? There's no way that you could have been born then, do you realize how old that would make you? Are you sure you didn't give yourself a concussion when you fell?"

"Oh please," Nicole crossed her arms, "Why would I lie?"

"The machine says that she's telling the truth." Trowa said evenly. "There is no plausible reason for her to make this up."

"Then how do you explain this?" Heero growled.  
Nicole sighed again, "Did you ever think that maybe we're not from around here, huh? I mean, if it's really the year that _you_ say it is, then we must have been….I don't know….sent forward in time." She looked as if she didn't believe what she'd just said.

"But how could that have happened?" Quatre asked, "Even with all of the technology we have, no one has ever successfully been able to travel through time."

"That you know of." Rina remarked from behind the laptop Duo was letting her examine. "Someone could have accomplished it and simply not told anyone."

"Alright," Heero said tightly, "What's the last thing you remember before Duo found you on our ship?"

"Uh…" Nicole pressed a hand to her forehead, "I don't know," she admitted. "It's all kind of blurry. We were all on our way to help Angle look at a new apartment…that's why we packed our travel bags…but then….oh, I can't remember!"

"Wait!" Angel piped up, "We went on the subway!"

"Yes!" Rina finally tore her gaze from the laptop and looked pointedly at Angel, "You made us run back onto the train because you forgot your purse! And then…." Rina stopped.

"And then…" Angel trailed off, "I can't remember." They looked at Nicole, who was still rubbing her head, trying to remember what had happened.

Duo suddenly jumped up and snapped his fingers, "Hey! Right before I found you three, there was this big tremor on the ship! I thought we were under attack at first, but then I ended up finding you and forgot about it."

"A tremor?" Wufei asked doubtfully, "I didn't feel a tremor, Maxwell."

"Neither did I," said Heero. The other two pilots each confirmed that they hadn't felt any change in the ship at all that day.

Nicole looked up at Rina and Angel, her eyes wide. "The man! The fidgety man on the train! He said something before I blacked out, he said…"

"He said, 'You don't understand…'." Angel whispered, her face paling.

Rina shakily pushed her glasses further onto her nose, the futuristic laptop momentarily forgotten, "Then he said, 'The process has already begun. You will not be able to get back now'."


	5. Talk of Tolkien

Author's Note: Well Chapter Five is a little later than I had expected, and probably not as long as I wanted but, ah well. Anyway, PLEASE review my dears!

Dragonwing

Five

--"Oh my….." Angel's face paled as she looked at Nicole. "What are we going to do?"

"I…I don't know." Nicole looked at Rina, her eyes wide.

"Well don't look at me!" Rina sputtered, "I don't know how to get us back!"

"So, you really _are_ from the past." Duo stared at them, then he suddenly grew excited. "What's your time like? It was before the war so the states were still in tact, what was that like? When—"

"Duo!" Heero cut him off. "Now is not the time for playing twenty questions. We need to figure out exactly what brought them here."

"Well it must have been the subway car," Wufei mused. "What did you say the man who spoke to you looked like?"

"Fidgety." Angel's eyes narrowed, "Like somebody had electrocuted him."

"His face was covered," Rina added. "But you could tell he was very nervous."

"He kept reaching into his pockets, as if he had something important there." Nicole said.

"What else?" Heero asked sternly, "What else happened?"

"After that…" Nicole trailed off. "I don't remember anything else."

"Me either." Both Angel and Rina echoed.

"Well that's not going to help." Wufei's brow knitted together. "This is all very strange, and very unlikely."

"Well what else do you want?" Angel snapped, "We didn't _ask_ to be dumped here!"

"Although it is…" Rina's gaze drifted back to the starry expanse on the other side of the window. "Amazing."

"It's crazy is what it is." Angel mumbled, but Rina ignored her.  
"So what are we going to do?" Nicole asked. "We don't know anything about this world or what it's like. How are we going to survive until we figure out how to get home?"

"You'll stay with us of course!" Duo grinned, spreading his arms to include the other pilots. "That way you can tell us all about the time you're from and we'll teach you about ours!"

"Duo," Heero warned.

"I think it's a good idea, Duo." Quatre said matter-of-factly. "After all, whoever brought them here did just leave them on our ship. It would be the hospitable thing to do to offer them shelter until we figure out what's going on."

"Wait a minute." Wufei said suddenly, "If they were brought to our ship, wouldn't that mean the one who brought them here is on board as well?"

Everyone was stunned into silence for a moment, as the enormity of what none of them had realized earlier sank in.

"Let's sweep the vessel and see if he's here!" Duo yelled and took off for the door. "I'll start in the level I found them in!" And before anyone could stop him, he was gone.

"We'll go to the upper levels." Quatre indicated himself and Trowa, who nodded his agreement.

"I'll catch up with Duo," Heero sighed and shook his head. "Wufei, you stay here with them in case we flush the bastard out and he comes this way."

Wufei nodded curtly and accepted the gun Heero passed him.

"Let's go then." Trowa led the way out with Heero and Quatre close behind.

"Well that was fast." Angel said, tilting her head at the door the four pilots had vanished through. "What do we do?"

"Stay here and wait for them to return." Wufei said sternly. "If the ship has been breached the main operative will be to keep the three of you safe until we catch the one who brought you here."

"Ok, ok!" Angel flounced over to where their bags were still against the wall and hefted hers out of the pile. She began to search for something while Rina and Nicole merely shook their heads and sat down at the table again to wait.

Some time passed as the four waited in the control deck for the other pilots to return. Wufei paced for a time before finally settling in one of the control panel chairs and began checking the various mechanisms of the gun Heero had given him. Nicole watched him during this time, but finally turned to Rina who had pulled a book from her bag and was reading.

"Which one is that?" Nicole asked, tilting her head so that she could read the spine of the book in her friend's hands.

"I'm re-reading _The Lord of the Rings_." Rina said from behind the book, "This is the second one, _The Two Towers_.

"I used to love those," Nicole smiled wistfully. "Did you bring the others with you too?"

The sound of a page turning was all that she heard until Rina managed to utter, "Yep."

"Can I borrow the first one?" Nicole peaked over the book and grinned when Rina finally looked up at her.

"Sure," Rina smiled briefly and then ducked back into the novel. "It's in the outside pocket of my duffle bag."

"Thanks!" Nicole jumped up and retrieved the book. Settling back down into her chair, she started to read when she noticed Wufei watching them with open curiosity. "What?" She raised an eyebrow at the pilot.

Wufei barely managed to rein in the blush that wanted to bloom at the young woman's question. Clearing his throat, he returned his attention to the gun and muttered. "What is……_The Lord of the Rings_?"

Nicole's head snapped around when she heard Rina's book drop to the table with a loud **SLAP**. The brunette gaped at him for a moment before regaining her senses. "You've never heard of _Lord of the Rings_?" She nearly shouted. "Written by J.R.R. Tolkien? One of the greatest written trilogies of all time?"

"No," Wufei straightened in his chair. "I have not had much opportunity to read, as it were, but I have heard of many books and that is not one of them."

"Oh no!" Rina turned to Nicole and grabbed her arm. "Can it be that Tolkien's work hasn't lasted this far into the future? WE were still talking about damned William Shakespeare and _Homer_ in our time, but Tolkein hasn't lasted this far? It's a travesty!" Rina snatched the first novel out of Nicole's hands and scurried over to a startled Wufei. She thrust the book into his hands, "Read it! It's called _The Fellowship of the Ring_. If you do anything for me while we're here you will read this book!" Rina waited expectantly until Wufei nodded and then zoomed back to her own seat to resume reading the second book.

Nicole shrugged at the still somewhat dumbfounded pilot and went to dig out the third book instead. "Well at least I've already read all of these once before, I guess I can skip ahead." She located _The Return of the King_ and returned to the table. Wufei was still alternating staring at the two women sitting at the table and at the book in his hands. Angel finally emerged from rummaging through her bag with her iPod and a magazine and made herself comfortable at the table with Rina and Nicole.

"I never even made it through one of those books!" Angel sniffed and starting flipping through her magazine. "Too much fighting for me."

Wufei found that he was intrigued by what the small blonde said, "Why are they fight—"

Just then, Duo and Heero came trudging back into the room. "We didn't find any damage anywhere." Duo said, plopping down into a chair.

"But one of the extra emergency pods is gone, and they were all here earlier today." Heero growled, "So someone _was_ here."

"Nothing on the upper levels." Trowa reported as he and Quatre came back into the control deck.

"Did you two find anything?" Quatre asked, leaning against the wall.

"One of the emergency pods is missing." Duo sighed, leaning over Wufei's shoulder. "Hey, whatcha got there Wuffers?"

"It's called a book, Maxwell." Wufei said calmly, "Normal people read them, did you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah." Duo snorted and snatched the book up. "_The Fellowship of the Ring_? What's it about?"

"It's a long story," Nicole cut in before Rina could go on another rage against the literary injustices of the future. "Just read it yourself after he's done."

"So what now?" Rina asked. "How are we going to catch whoever brought us here and find a way to get home?"

All of the pilots looked at each other, unsure of what to tell them. Had they realized the culprit was on board sooner they might have been able to catch him before he got away. Without knowing how he'd brought them there, how were the pilots supposed to get them home?


End file.
